Dreams are made of sugar

I'm a fan of everything sweet. A good bite of something sugary before practices keeps me happy on the track, sometimes and lately quite often it has been apple pie and today I enjoyed this lovely marshmallow for dessert at work. We had plenty of goodies at work today, bun at the morning coffee, dark chocolate and marshmallow at lunch, pralines and sweet surprises from Saint Petersburg at the afternoon coffee and I had time for one Brunberg's kiss too. Sweet surprise of course implies that I have no idea what those sweet little baked but bagged small treats filled with toffee are actually called.

Brunberg's kiss

What's the treat that keeps you going?

Week 9 - game on!

What an exciting week! My first mixed scrimmage on Friday makes me feel nervous and more beginner than ever. I seriously hope to be in the best possible shape and state of mind to really give it all, I want to feel exhausted and happy - no matter if our team wins or not. It's gonna be quite a challenge to team up with a bunch of strangers in ½ hour but there is something that unifies us: the game. Of course I saw some of the girls earlier in Hamina but it was only a quick shout out about who's in what team. There has also been some discussion in Facebook but that hardly personalizes anyone, I can only say it seems we have a bunch of great dudettes there :).

Sadly I won't be able participate on our practice on Sunday 'cause I'm spending Saturday and Sunday in Turku for work. We're attending a fair so there's gonna be a lot of standing and talking to people. I hope that's gonna be a lot fun too, I just don't really like missing out on Sundays practices this much. It's only the second during this time but it seems I might have to skip again on Father's Day, 11th November.

Monday
Running 40
Yoga 60

Tuesday
PRD off skates practice 60 (pick a rule discussion)
PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday
PRD on skate practice 2 hours

Thursday
stretching 30

Friday
SCREAMmage! scrimmage

Saturday
day off

Sunday
day off

Yesterday I skipped BODYPUMP, I had to stay late at work and I'm a little worried about my lower back and buttocks AGAIN. I feel the muscles attach to each other again, stretching is painful and no matter how much I stretch it does not ease off. This is something I will have to work as long as I skate, it's not just temporary trouble. I stretch the most painful part 2-3 times a day for 10 deep breathes and then again 3 deep breathes on both sides and I just have to keep doing it.

Yesterday in yoga class I also opened my hips which don't open nearly as much as they should. One should be able to open your legs fully to the sides keeping your hips facing forward while opening your legs. It feels like there's a part that is made of steel that keeps me from improving this movement, it keeps my legs from opening more from one certain point. I haven't succeeded to get my legs more open the whole time I've been practicing this. Well after the yoga lesson while others had a moment of meditation in silence and eyes closed I lied on my back and lifted my feet up facing the ceiling and a little by little opened them more. I felt again the part that feels like the end of the movement, steel, but took a deep breathe and tried to keep going. It hurt and I heard a little snap from the right side but then the pain eased and I really opened more than I have the whole time I've been doing hip exercises! I did not want to get up from my position. The actual exit from the position was hellish again, I felt the same snap again when my legs reached the steel part again and had to clamber quite awkwardly away from the position. This achievement was possible thanks to the yoga class and the hot room it is held in. I would never have the courage to do it in a cold room like the ones we have at home.

Zonked out...

Tired and lazy: vixen like my skates! 

I'm unwilling to do almost anything and it's eating me up. First I'm gonna show my disappointments from last week, missing both runs and one agility work out. It was too busy and I just didn't find the energy for it when I had those little gaps between the busy hours. I know it's okay but still it makes me feel good-for-nothing! I can't make it up this week 'cause I have to take it easy for the screammage on Friday but hey: at least I go well with the team name: The Rolling Dead. I'm almost as active as a dead person! Yes, lashing yourself over minor setbacks is fun. It's also a fact that these busy weeks are not over yet, I have work on next weekend and the one after that and then on 16th it's time for a Christmas gala for PRD. So this is my time to improve scheduling around busy times, remember to aim high to achieve the best but also settle for less without a feeling of guilt. 

Monday
BODYPUMP 60

Tuesday
agility 15
PRD off skate practice 60 (nso lecture)
PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday
PRD on skate practice 2 hours

Thursday
running 30

Friday
indoor cycling 30
DAY OFF

Saturday
running 30
agility 15

Sunday
PRD off skate practice 2 hours 45 

We baked and made food ready for the charter party on Saturday. It was the start-up party for our Leo Club Porvoo / Pomega and from now on we are to do charity work. The whole event nevertheless was really awesome to put up - I believe everyone learned a thing or two about organizing an event. For myself I have quite little experience: only basics we learned at school, something from putting up a wedding and from other smaller events. It took an entire Friday evening and Saturday from noon to get everything ready by 5.30 pm, including ourselves with cocktail dresses and a touch of Halloween. The party was a great success and we all felt proud of making it all happen, it really showed we have it in us to do some great stuff together. Now it's the time to figure out what that stuff is going to be. 

Friday blabbers

It's time to make a deal with the upcoming winter because we just had our first snow. I like snow and dry winter days, but there are definitely certain aspects I don't really care for - well probably most Finns don't. Slush, everything colder than -15 degrees, darkness. Those are the things I loathe. From last winter I remember -9 degrees was my limit for going for a run. Every degree colder made my lungs hurt and of course it also depends on the ground. There are two things to think about: it's easy to run in slush but you wet your feet and it takes more energy, so you have to run slower which is depressing. The another thing is ice. Running on pavement turns to hell and you don't have so many route choices anymore, for a while little forest paths are your only choice. Still I enjoy more running outside than on a treadmill but since I'm not training for a marathon anymore I think I can quite easily do running on a treadmill without greater pains. I am so lucky to live above my gym, just waiting when they'll give me a key to the staircase door.

Yesterday I skipped jogging but planned a trip to Poland instead. I had small pains in my right knee in the morning so I decided not to exercise but to plan my moms 60th birthday that she wants to spend in Poland. We found a wonderful small place with many cool apartment lodgings: Sopot. It's by the sea and in between two bigger cities Gdansk and Gdynia. Sopot is a town of only 40 000 people so it's about the same population than Porvoo. Gdansk and Gdynia on the ohter hand are bigger cities: Gdansk 460 276 and Gdynia 247 324. Those three towns are situated right next to each other and in a map it also looks like there isn't much of a empty space between the suburbs. There is a national park called Tricity Landscape Park in Sopot that looks beautiful and would be nice to visit that too.

I'm really short on time once again and haven't been able to do any body treatment like stretching so I've just tried to do some whenever I've had some time. I stretch my buttocks on coffee breaks with the easy non-suspicious move: lifting the other ankle on top of the others knee and turning the upper legs knee open and then stretching forward with my upper body. I can feel it quite well again event though I already thought I'm done with my buttocks. I do that 2-3 times a day, 30 seconds at a time. Somewhat at noon I do a small 7 minutes exercise to improve mobility of hands, shoulders, core and some wake-up calls for feet too.

Today I want to leave early for a jog but I haven't decided if I want to run outdoors or indoors, I'll have to check the weather in the afternoon. Then it's all about baking for the rest of the evening and preparing ourselves for our Leo Club charter party tomorrow! I still have a speech to work on... And probably I'll just improvise even though I'd have something ready for tomorrow.

Today: SNOW

SHOES

Look at the amount of sports shoes I have! Shoes shoes shoeeeees!

Indoor cycling, indoor running, BODYPUMP, outdoor running, barefoot running, skate shoes, quad skates

Well of course as a woman I also have plenty of other shoes too... And yes, I need them all! To mention: I also love sports equipment. I have a pole, a longboard, a skateboard, stretching rubber band and an yoga mat. Actually I've kept it really small considering how much stuff I would love to do.

Week 8 and I can work out with agility skills again and probably try some RVP too. I also might change Thursday to a day off instead of Friday, but we'll see about that. I have a super busy weekend once again so I just have to live it by the moment. Also I have to think about the scrimmage next week: this is not the time to work out to the limits. Now it's all about practicing the most important stuff and letting your body rest too, so I'm best prepared to give it my all next week in the game.

Monday
BODYPUMP 60

Tuesday
agility 15
PRD off skate practice 60 (nso lecture)
PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday
PRD on skate practice 2 hours

Thursday
running 30

Friday
DAY OFF

Saturday
running 30
agility 15

Sunday
PRD off skate practice 2 hours

Week 8 - activating again

A long weekend requires a slow start for updating this week, don't you think? That does not mean I was lazy yesterday - I only had a day off and did more fun without the computer. Last week was like a healing touch for my muscles because I ended up doing nothing on Thursday either: I had a busy day and felt like taking it easy. You've maybe noticed that quite often I change my plans and just take it easy for a while. Listening to your body is important and that also gives me power to do more on some other days. Well as you can see that did not happen last week! I really took it easy.

Monday
hip exercise 15
running in intervals 30
yoga 60

Tuesday
hip exercise 15
PRD off skate practice 60 (fixing&cleaning skates)
PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday
massage 30
hip exercise 15
PRD on skate practice 2 hours

Thursday
BODYPUMP exp 30
running 30

Friday
hip exercise 15
agility 15

Saturday
DAY OFF

Sunday
DAY OFF

Taking it easy

Autumn break - cottage

Be prepared

A break from busy days: a weekend at a friends cottage. I'm going to relax and have fun, play games, sleep whenever I want to and not go to sleep too, if I feel like it. That's really all there is to say.

Upgrading Vixen

Last week massages were cancelled so I reserved a time for this Wednesday. I knew already that my lower back is in better condition than it was two weeks ago but this was like a final touch. Well it is clear now that the problem is not with my back or my stance but the amount of exercise I did and of my skating style. Too much too fast. The masseur said my lower back seems great again but I still need to work with my buttocks and the outsides of my thighs. He gave me a permission to finally do some long 30-60 seconds stretching. I'm going to have to wait at least a week before getting back to squatting and RVP. Anyway it feels good to be finally getting better.

Today I wanted to write how I've upgraded my Riedell Vixens. I skated for the first four months with the original package and only bought new wheels in August. I chose Atom Juke 93A mainly because I had easy access to those and had heard good about those too. They are so much faster and more agile than the old super wide wheels Vixens had on them. They were really like practice wheels for beginners and I feel like upgrading wheels has really brought a lot to my skating. I wanted to get new bearings and cushions too but the wheels were expensive and I was out of money. I needed a new helmet too before the first scrimmage. Finally this week I got my new safer helmet, soft cushions and new bearings. I tried my old bearings compared to those new and I don't think the original ones were never really good. These new ones costed only 15 euros a package of eight and felt smoother already feeling with my fingers. They are Independent 5s that my team mate got for a bunch of us. The 5 of course stands for Abec-5, which is recommendable for roller skates (Abec-5 to Abec-7). There's quite a lot of jumping and stuff that puts bearings under a pressure so it's wiser not to buy the most expensive bearings - unless you've got some extra money.

I really can't decide which was cooler a feeling: new wheels or new soft cushions. My old wheels were wide, clumsy and had a weird inset in the middle of the wheel. These new ones are slimmer and harder which enables me to go faster with less effort. The only problem is that these are a bit too hard for our practice places which have a slippery floor. But the floors in Pasila and Hamina... oh boy these are something alright!

How about the new sooooooft cushions? When I changed those to my skates on I got a great advice from the girls that had already changed those. It was to tighten those up as tight as I could get them. I understood the reason right away when we got to the floor. My feet had already used to working really hard for changing directions, turning and leaping. So they continued the extra effort and all my moves made me feel almost like I was first time on skates! But it was only 15 minutes that my feet got the point and noticed they don't have to work that hard anymore to change the center of gravity inside the skate anymore. Just a little leaning could do, almost like doing yoga with bare feet, when you are waving your body with the small muscles in your soles. In time I will be able to loosen them up a little and become even more fluent. Actually changing the cushions really pushed me forward with agility, I feel much more comfortable moving around fast. One thing I also noticed after these two on skates practices is I can keep my balance so much easier when my skates give in a bit. Oh the new bright red cushions!

Soft cushions, get 'em!

Reflecting my objectives - on skates

My title really makes me feel like going back to school and I have a slight disgust about this reflection. It must be because of my thesis, most difficult work I've done for school. But I'm in a need of getting to know where I stand now, there's only 2½ months till the end of the year.

1. Agility & explosive power
2. Skating stance
3. Courage 
4. Endurance
5. Communication

First of all a little note about my practice attendance percentage. Hopefully I've calculated it right, but I've attended 16 of 19 PRD practices since the new attendance started on 1st of September. That makes my percentage 84%, quite good. In addition I've been to the USA boot camp, on a strategy lesson, checking minimum skills and one FTP class. From that I could claim my attendance and participating shows my interest in this sport. Also I've finally taken the step to enter the NSO world too and volunteered to be a non skating official in December.

1. Agility & explosive power

I've successfully passed minimum skills in August and my skills in leaping, jumping, turning, running with toe stops, rolling with one skate and doing zigzag trough the track are in a sufficient level. There actually hasn't been that much this agility training since USA boot camp and our practices has gotten more intense, so we haven't had that much time to improve our own weaknesses. But one thing I've tried to keep in mind when warming up: rolling with fore/back wheels.

It was such a good thing to participate on FTP last Sunday because we did some agility, trained cross overs with a pair and had skating time to practice our own stuff. I would love to take part another time too, but somehow my calendar is filling to the top. Our own practices have actually included less scrimmaging than I thought but more usefully scrimmage-like drills. It has been more to do shorter drills so we can learn the point and some strategies too.

Explosive power is something that I've failed real bad. I'm quite happy with my agility level - I'm felling less all the time, keeping a better balance and becoming more stable all the time. But explosive power, I need you! One reason is my injuries that have kept me from doing anything hasty in fear of getting my injuries even worse. That is of course a wise thing to do and has partially helped me achieve a better balance. But I want to get in shape for great jumps, leaps and sudden changes, so this is the first subject on my to do -list when I get my injuries totally fixed.

2. Skating stance

Oh dear. So I have talked about my stance and suggested that my injuries came of a bad stance. Now I need to get that right, 'cause all the pain in my buttocks is actually more likely to have come from a too tiring skating style, not from a bad stance. Of course there's still work to do to get into perfect skating stance but I'm on my way there. The good thing about getting injured is that you really dig deep to find how to do things right and now I'm able to fix it. One really important note for me has been not leaning my back in front of me too much but to have my back as leaned as my shins/ankles are.

The part that has made my muscles hurt is strain for a lot of exercise and my skating style. In effective skating  we use our abs and our buttocks with our thighs and hips. I've skated quite much in a style I skate in a pack: small skating, short strokes. That does not activate my abs and buttocks almost at all so all the strain falls to my thighs. There was one drill at the USA boot camp about long strokes and I will more and more concentrate in having a couple of strong long strokes instead of many small strokes.

3. Courage

"We have three on skates practice times per week now in autumn 2012 and at least two per week in spring 2013. That amount should guarantee that I will be more confident on skates."

That's me on September 5th, 1½ month ago. Already now after such a short time I feel again more confident. I mentioned earlier about not falling that much anymore. Even though I get hit by another skate or my own I can keep my balance better than 1½ months ago. A small thing but makes practice less tiring too. Getting down and up is exhausting. I am also more confident in having fun on skates, jumping around, running with skates and toe stops.

I still need to improve leaping and jumping. I've been keeping my jumps down because of my injuries but there will be a point when I'm okay again and then it's just all about my courage.

4. Endurance

This is something that I haven't really especially worked for. I've been counting on my endurance history and now that I've done about one run a week it still seems to be quite good. That is my overall endurance when running or cycling or even skating, like we tried out yesterday. 100 laps without a pause was a piece of cake, the only regret I had was to not have skated faster. The 100 laps was also a great way to improve basic skating skills.

There are other things to consider in endurance that have come to my notion. Like for example now that I've been forced to leave RVP lessons out of my schedule for a while I've done the mistake of not worked on my abs enough. Of course BODYPUMP lesson includes some muscle toning for abs but quite a little. And it's not just the abs but the whole core of my body, the middle section that needs work. It will help with my balance too, so this is really something I need to get on right now.

5. Communication

We all communicate more on the track. I had the best feeling when checking the minimum skills the other week when we left those test participants to skate the track for a while when we had a short talk. I noticed the pack started to communicate, I hear many "get back in the pack" and "get the pack together" shouts and it made me smile. To communicate even in a simple skating around the track is where it begins. I'm still quite clueless about communication on it's best, I've only had some tips from my dearest man that we could have some secret signals for different strategies so we could shout them out loud in play.

#42: Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything

There it is! My official player picture and don't I really look official? This was fun, thanks Marko Niemelä who took the picture. Has anyone noticed that my number is the answer to the Big question? Haha, thanks Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Yesterday I was about to go to BODYPUMP but skipped it, the 4 hours skating on Sunday really found my thighs. I don't want to anger my muscles AGAIN. Instead I ran 30 minutes interval on a treadmill and did 60 minutes of yoga. Yoga was good, such a great way to start the week. There was also one move that was amazing for opening your hips, I'll add it to my hip exercises. 

Here's what it's gonna be this week:

Monday

hip exercise 15

running in intervals 30

yoga 60

Tuesday

hip exercise 15

PRD off skate practice 60 (fixing&cleaning skates)

PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday
massage 30

hip exercise 15

PRD on skate practice 2 hours

Thursday

BODYPUMP exp 30

running 30

Friday

hip exercise 15

agility 15

Saturday

DAY OFF

Sunday

DAY OFF

Skipping the weekend practices

Week 7 - preparing to play

MONDAY! My last week was quite a quiet week, only three posts. Well don't give up your hopes yet, I had a good week practicing. My buttocks still give me some trouble but only from time to time. I'm still not ready to level up my workouts but this weeks I want to reflect my objectives once again. I've made quite good progress despite the setbacks. My skills will be finally put to a test when I'm participating in a mixed scrimmage in three weeks, my first scrimmage ever. Of course we've done some scrimmage-like drills and practiced it in a couple of boot camps too, but first one to have full amount of referees, NSOs and a huge oversize roster. It's oversized because there's so much rookies wanting to participate and who could suppress an enthusiasm like that. Reflection is needed so I can still work with my weak parts.

Here's my workouts last week:

Monday

hip exercise 15

BODYPUMP 60

Tuesday

PRD off skate practice 60 - injury talk, stretching tips

PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday

hip exercise 15

PRD on skate practice ~2 hours

Thursday

hip exercise 15

running 40

Friday

stretching 30

long walk, 2½ hours

hip exercise 15

checking minimum skills

skating a little

Saturday

stretching 30

hip exercise 15

Sunday

PRD on skate practice FTP 2 hours

PRD on skate practice 2 hours

hip exercise 15

Really, look at that! I did over all expectations, time for a small applause. There's still a lot I haven't been able to do lately for instance agility and more muscle toning workouts. Agility I could probably do already but I'm still afraid to attend RVP classes. So I went running because on Tuesday we changed the off skate practice for some serious talk about our injuries, how we are coping with them and what we could do to prevent them. It was a precious hour but the little jog we did before it left me hungry for more. I remembered again why I love running so much, the feeling of freedom is amazing. Think about being a jammer and being jammed in the pack, frustrated and tired. Then think of putting your sneakers on and from that moment on the whole city is open for you! There's no track, no cutting, no one trying to stop you. I more and more enjoy dancing when running and jumping around, suddenly hopping away from the path to the forest, falling down in the dark and laughing at it, getting back up to get soaking wet from the rain. Autumn runs are the best. 

I also did loads of stretching, had a long walk and attended FTP practices on Sunday, so it was four hours of rolling yesterday. It was cool to see how the guys at FTP have developed already and there were some good drills I needed to practice too. For example I finally think I got the T-stop right. We also did swooping and crossovers which can be never practiced too much. I also enjoy the long lessons of skating, two hours is nice, but four hours is just heaven, it feels like you've grown into your skates.

I've got a pair of Riedell skates, model Vixen. I chose Vixen 'cause the shoe part is of leather and they were reasonable priced. Leather forms up to fit your feet after about one month. I've upgraded the wheels to Atom Juke 93A, slimmer and harder than the original wheels. Before the scrimmage I also need to upgrade my cushions to soft, the original are really hard and give me no flexibility. I'll also purchase extra bearings and spacers to protect the bearings. 

Vixen with original wheels

What does Shorty stand for?

First of all I want to share my situation with my buttocks. Yeah, again some ass talk. Anyway, those little potato fields are doing better. I gave 30 minutes of cold treatment for both sides on Tuesday and yesterday after practice. I had one 0,5 liter bottle in the freezer and one old ice bag so I could have them on my hips at the same time. It felt really good, I could just feel the muscles in ease, so relaxing. Also sitting at work does not feel that bad anymore. All this might be due to a burana course that I take in case there really is inflammation but somehow I feel the swelling has come down and I don't feel like wearing someone elses ghetto booty anymore.

It seems I really am back on the track, I've done workout now for 3 days and I feel great. Well a bit sniffles but that's all. There is also fun ahead: tomorrow we are leaving to check out our neighbouring teams minimum skills test. There's also going to be a couple of our own players to do their skating part of minimum skills and some who only do the time trial, I'm sure they all make the 25 laps in 5 minutes! I'm going to check someones skills and am really excited. It's just so much fun to see all the other derby girls and as I've told earlier too, I really like girls from Kymenlaakso.

So what about Shorty H? We had our player pictures taken yesterday and quite many of us had some prop to underline their skater name or something that they like otherwise. I had a small identity crisis because I started to think about it too much. Shorty, as Wikipedia kindly informs me, stands for quite unfamous rapper, some films, band, a type of wetsuit (?!) and then the one I refer it to: a pejorative term or nickname for a person of short stature (usually a child or female). Of course I'm not of a short stature - quite the opposite with the length of 180 cm but hey it's supposed to be "funny". Well it's probably not the most unique or imaginative skater name but it's mine. I also like the note of the spelling in Southern U.S. Shawty. Always good to have a nickname for your nickname, yes? So I got rid of the crisis, took a cap with me and put on some nice grins (I don't actually know if those were nice). Hey I almost forgot the H. It is usually forgotten and my team members usually use only Shorty. But it comes from my first name and my old last name that both start with H.

Benefits from changing my last name from H to L

Week 6 - getting back on the track

The freshest of days for a while. I'm again full of energy and hope. My buttocks still hurt and it's been over a week now. I will get on the track again today and reserved a new massage for Wednesday but it got cancelled. Oh no! I'll just have to continue with my hip exercise. Last week was such a disappointing week, I couldn't work out and I was hooked on sugar like a junkie. But I also made really good progress with proofreading, met my brother, spent time with the best husband ever, cooked, baked and oh dear the lovely hours I SLEPT. I almost feel reborn. If I don't think about my buttocks or my body which is in desperate need of exercise, 'cause there is so much energy bursting under my skin. Now I sound like a freak. Little creatures under my skin trying to get out for some sports. Yup.

Yesterday I started the conquer of sugar again. I had some cool pains on Sunday for eating 4 pieces of apple pie, some cookie dough and cookies, liquorice, apple jam... So really this needs to stop! I'm repeating myself and it's not cool. Sugar doesn't even taste that good if you eat it too much. So far so good, only a little jam with yogurt. How are you guys coping with this kind of stuff? I know people that don't even like sweets that much but they may have problems with salty goodies. Anyone in need of a support person? I've had this phrase in my head for a week now: "how to avoid high blood pressure in early years". It's a good question.

Let's have a look at the schedule again, some workouts may change, if my buttocks or lower back feel worse. 

Monday

hip exercise 15

BODYPUMP 60

Tuesday

PRD off skate practice 60

PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday

hip exercise 15

PRD on skate practice ~2 hours

Thursday

hip exercise 15

Friday

hip exercise 15

checking minimum skills

Saturday

hip exercise 15

Sunday

PRD on skate practice 2 hours

hip exercise 15

Yes, it hurts

My massage reservation got cancelled. I'm starting to feel desperate 'cause the pain has continued over a week now. I've done hip exercise and had days off from workout. So I went to BODYPUMP yesterday and did squats with minimum weights. It was great, I felt so good to workout again. But today my pains continue. Well another advice I found only today was to keep something cold on the painful spots 3-5 times a day, especially after exercise. I found that out by finally considering that there might be an inflammation somewhere near my buttocks and hips. I've now asked for advice from our occupational health care so lets see what they say.

I was so moved today when I talked with mom on our coffee break and she said she enjoyed the game on Saturday so much she wished it could be on TV. Then she considered again and said that actually it is way more fun to watch the bout live. "Your sport should be a huge thing already! What a game!" I was so moved by her interest I got wet eyes of happiness.

Mom!

Saturday full of Roller Derrrrby

On Friday I went to see my little brother after work. He's turning 2 years this December and is as adorable as ever! He hugged me, even gave me some kisses and we played with cars. We had a nice conversation with my dads lady friend about life in general and plenty about roller derby too. She's so nice, always really interested and shares my liking of treats like cake and good cheese. My visit was due to my dads longer trip to Berlin and I just wanted to keep some company as well as get some good company for myself too. She must be one of the rare people in my life that are actually still interested in hearing about roller derby. Somehow I feel people are more or less fed up with non-stop derby talk. Even when I started this update I had doubts about the title and hey - this is a blog about my battle of roller derby! Still it seems like an unwanted topic to chat about.

I woke up to my alarm on a Saturday morning at 7.30 am. Then I woke up again at 8 am and noticed I'd have to hurry a bit to get myself in to a car by 8.45! Some necessary coffee and bread to go, clothes for sports and clothes to hang out at the bout. It was time for a strategy lecture. When I sat in the car I felt still asleep, I ate my bread and tried to get a hold of myself but failed. It was only in the beginning of the lecture when I woke up, thanks to our coach Killmore who bought me a marshmallow cable (mmm nicely translated) from the marketplace on Friday. Oh the one meter long marshmallow dream come true, it was just what I needed to get my thoughts on strategies. We went through some basic strategies for 2 hours and really it was just simple stuff but so good for us beginners. I kept writing notes for myself and tried to assimilate every piece of information given. There is so much work to do, so much to learn to actually become a team with a goal. It might do me some good if I'd open up my notes here this week, I'll try and have some time for that.

Gear on, warm-up! The space in Pasila leaves me speechless and just makes me want to go there over and over again. I don't want to take my skates off, I just want to roll around the track for hours. But now it was time for strategies in action. Some about jam starts and during the game strategies also. All participants were from different levels, some had already played in bouts, some were fresh meat and some somewhere in between. The whole practice was held in Finnish and we did different drills. Some with pairs and groups of four. Jam starting drills we went of course through with 5 + 5. That was the most fun part! I am really grateful to live so near Helsinki and to take part in Helsinki Roller Derbys great boot camps.

When the lecture was over I felt empty for a while and then it changed to a feeling of realisation of how much work we have in front of us. And how fun that work is going to be! No more learning how to fall, no more beginner stuff, but actual strategies of how the game is played. It tickles me when I think about it. Of course I know we have to take care of our basic skating skills as well, at the moment I understand it even more since my buttocks are still hurting. I'm definitely going for a new massage on Wednesday and getting back to practice this week. I will just leave RVP out for now 'cause that's too much for my potato field.

We stayed to sell some merch and to watch the bouts too. My mom came to see the bout between Kouvola Rock n Rollers and HRD's team Hurtta Lottas. She was excited and when she started to understand the game she was fully in to it, cheering like a pro. It was the first bout Kouvola played as a team, some of the girls had participated in mixed bouts before and for some it was the first bout ever. They did really good, I especially think they had good jam starts but then the game on -strategies and teamwork was weaker. Still they've made such a great job, being able to bout after less than 1½ years from starting the league! That is amazing. Then HRD's two home teams played against each other and it was a joy to watch so intensive game, Saturday Fight Fever won Angry Nerds only by two points.

On Sunday it was cookie baking time! I love making the dough - the scent of chocolate gets me high. This patch was made for the team for some bout watching. We didn't have on skate practice 'cause the space was in other use, so we spent the hours by watching a bout and meeting some of the fresh meat girls too. They seem awesome! I'd love to have some more time with them too.

Vincent & famösa cookies

So how did my last week go? Well BAD, really it sucked! I don't like injuries... I want to spit on that last weeks workout schedule, yak.

Monday

BODYPUMP 60

stretching 30

Tuesday

PRD off skate practice 60

PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday

massage 30

PRD on skate practice 2 hours

hip exercise 15

Thursday

squats 2 x 65

stretching 30 (home)

hip exercise 15

Friday

RVP 30

stretching 30 (home)

hip exercise 15

Saturday

Strategy boot camp by HRD in Pasila:

off skate theory 2 hours

on skate practice 2 hours

Sunday

PRD off skate practice 2 hours

stretching 30 (home)

hip exercise 15

Relaxing massage - not

I don't know how to start this update. I'm still confused and sad that my buttocks are in even worse state I thought they were. So I went to have a massage in the morning but the guy did not appear. Someone had forgot to inform the guy I had the first reservation in the morning. I got a new time after noon and went. He only did my lower back 'cause my buttocks are too bad to be massaged. He gave me an example by pushing them only a little and I felt pain and screamed from my heart. I'm really good at keeping my pains just to myself - he's a sports masseur so the massages are always rough to open the muscles better. It hurts even if my shoulders are not that jammed. Now when he did the lower back I held the pain to myself but he said he can feel it hurts. I also felt enormous lumps on both sides of my lower back that were the most painful parts. Then he wanted to feel a little from the sides of the upper buttocks and it hurt so much. It was a gentle touch but I cried from pain. There were more lumps than in my back and all different sizes, it felt like a potato field. 

I explained I've started a new program to support my skating and he immediately caught the skating part and asked for details. I told our practices have increased to 3 times a week and that I do squats almost every day. The reason for my pains probably come from the combination but more from the skating, well at least this is what he thinks from the info I gave him. He has customers that ice skate and they have had exactly the same problems. He said my program sounds reasonable and I'm doing the right things but I need to concentrate on doing them more controlled. The most important thing is to get my derby stance right. He said I probably held my hips in front and I should push them back and under. Now that I think of it this might be a  habit that I've had with running. The running position is to keep your hips to the front and I had to concentrate real hard to learn to do it naturally. Now it has probably come too natural for me and in roller derby I need to get rid of the habit. I need to lift my tailbone to stick my booty out and have my back in a neutral position. The problem is I haven't found the neutral position! Every once in a while I fix my body to a position thinking it might be it but nothing still feels right. I desperately need more advice.

He had a great advice how to fix this problem for now though. The key is to regularly do exercises that open my hips. It is essential that my hipbones keep facing forward and that I lift my other knee up in front of my body to 90 degrees and turn it outwards in a straight line. Then return my knee back in front of me and repeat it as many times as it feels good. I should be able to get my knee all the way to the side to the same line with my body, so that hip would be completely open from that side. At the moment it's not looking that good. It hurts and I can go maybe half way there. There are also other stuff I could do, but I need to study them. I might also go have a massage next week too so I can maybe fish some more advice.

So I've skipped practices this week. I haven't done anything else either. Buttocks are the biggest muscle a human has and it's quite impossible to workout without using it. Today walking isn't painful anymore so I've done a little walking but that's all. The feeling of missing practices and not being able to do any workout is frustrating. But to be honest... This came in a perfect time. I've really needed the extra time given to me and the extra sleep as well. I am more stable and not so tense all the time. Still I want this to be over and do the exercise my hips need. Patience once again.

Food? That's my favourite dish.

How many fitness blog updates start with the phrase "I love food"? Well my battle for roller derby update starts like that too. I love food. And another cliché coming up! I'm not going to follow a strict diet but eat normal home made easy food. Oh good I've read that many times and it has led to some recipes that have included some ingredients I've never heard of. It's okay when I'm in the mood of learning something new but if I just want to make plain food I want it to be simple. It also needs to be easy to take away 'cause I mostly eat packed lunch at work. 

So I have had some stomach pains lately... Why? Well the amount of apple pies (~5 a week) has led me to eat quite a lot apple pie (and apple pie dough). I've eaten too much bread and even though I'm not coeliac I get pains from bread if I have more than 3 pieces a day. My mother has the same thing too, it has been bothering her as well. That's quite annoying 'cause I like my bread plenty! I also have endless space for chocolate, liquorice and sweets in general. Talk about those pains the next day, mmm-m-m. I think I'd be quite huge without my problems, if I could eat all I want. Now after eating really poorly for a couple of weeks I need to get this straight, it's affecting my moods already. I hate it. Wroaaar I need real food!! Not pieces of butter and crystals of sugar blocking my to-be-high-blood-pressured veins. Ouch how bright my future seems!

I already failed yesterday and ate too much bread, 4 pieces. Now I'm suffering from the pain and having an inner grin at myself. "Practice what you preach", "know your body", "live by your limits", well I'm not good at this! That's why it's my topic of the day. Despite the failure I also made progress and finally got my sugar portion down a bit. Only a piece of apple pie (surprise) and a couple scoops of apple jam. And a protein bar. So if that's coming down, you can only imagine the previous daily sweets! Haha, for example on Sunday I ate 3/4 of a pie and ice cream (for breakfast)! On Monday I had cookies, apple pie, two brownies and apple delicacy. So yes, yesterday was tuning down. And already I feel better (despite the bread).

What's for lunch today?

Fried veggies

Some fried veggies I made yesterday. There's carrot, zucchini, yellow&green&red capsicum, garlic, onion, a little pepper, salt and soy sauce. This is a huge pan and it will carry me trough the rest of the week at work. Sometimes I like to make real soft veggies with more water, but this one is made with less water, maybe 1 dl + random amount of soy sauce. I haven't tasted it yet but the mix of many vegetables can never fail.

Hello fishy!

With veggies I have a piece of this salmon made in the oven. We bought a cheap salmon with reduced price, it was on offer and had 30% off the price. Couldn't resist an offer like that! (Well actually everyone who knows me real well know that you can sell me ANYTHING. I'm the easiest consumer there is.) Making salmon in the oven is almost too easy. I oiled the pan, put the fish with the skin into it, sprinkled some water on the fish and poured loads of lemon pepper -mix on the fish. The mix has lemon flavor, black pepper and salt. So it's basically all you need with a fish. Sometimes I add chili or a Mexican mix we got from my dear friend who came back from Mexico. Yup. Then just have it in a 200 degrees oven for 50 minutes and it's done! You can sprinkle some water after 15 minutes and after 30 minutes if you like it smoother.

I'm having some sour cream with the veggies and fish. I have loads of sour cream in our fridge because I'm always prepared to bake apple pie. Now that I don't have any apples anymore 'cause I made loads of jam of them, I can use that sour cream with real food.

In addition to lunch I always eat breakfast. Always. Sometimes only some yoghurt, sometimes bread, porrige or fruits. Then usually I have another small snack at morning coffee at work. Then lunch which I like to keep quite reasonable - I become really tired if I eat too much at lunchtime. After work I have something and the size depends if I'm going to practice or doing some other workout in the evening.

This is for a starters! Maybe I'll hit the subject again. On weekend maybe, I can reflect how I managed the week.

Week 5 - please take care of yourself

Okay I should have listened to my body yesterday. I still felt the pain in my buttocks yesterday and thought I can do squats with light weights... WRONG! I was like a granny after the class, crying in pain, craving for painkillers. Well today hasn't been much better, it still hurts a lot. They said at work that this is what you get from getting into sports so passionately and I guess its true. I really take this so seriously that sometimes I want to laugh at myself. Like today when I really had to weigh in my mind for the whole day if I can or can't go to the practice although it was clear already yesterday that I can't. I just WANT so much that I sometimes force myself striving for my best - over my own limits. Lesson learned again! It seems I never learn... How about my leg after the ½ marathon? Well I ran the marathon happily, just a little ache in my right foot sole that get worse after 10 kilometers and was quite painful after 16 km. The last 5 km I went without a sight of smile and just wished to see the goal. It hurt so much that when I reached the goal I wasn't sure if I cry for happiness or pain. Still I think it was happiness - I finally reached my long time goal to be able to run the ½ marathon with thousands of other runners. Yes and then the next day with the broken leg I went to the 9 hours boot camp and skated 5 hours with the pain. And again the only feeling was happiness of getting to learn so much from so amazing skaters. The pain came secondary. Well maybe pain shouldn't always come secondary. Striving for success is awesome and respectable but loosing your health doing it can be very sad.

Do you feel me?

I'm skipping the practice today and tomorrow morning I have a massage. Fingers crossed that I can skate tomorrow!

Feelings after a bitter week

Huh, that was one of the worst weeks ever. I am so glad that today I feel better already. Actually I feel great! I feel like leaving that horrible week behind me and starting this one from scratch. It's amazing 'cause this morning wasn't the most zen Monday morning. I woke up, coffee was out, I was nervous about the evaluation today and then my cat peed on a beanbag... WHY?! But nevertheless, I'm happy! I could toast on that. Or have a huge piece of cake - but this week is also going to be about nutrition. I've not been treating my body well after the holidays and it is time to get that one straight too, to avoid horrible weeks like last one. Now it's time to see how last week went with workouts.

Monday
BODYPUMP 60

Tuesday
PRD off skate practice 60
PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday
PRD promo photo shooting all night long
(some skating allowed in between your own photo shoots)
squats 2 x 65

Thursday
jogging 30
squats 2 x 65

Friday
indoor cycling 30
RVP

Saturday
jogging 30

Sunday
jogging 30
PRD on skate practice 2 hours
RVP at home ½
stretching 30

I started the week with BODYPUMP and it was awesome. Tuesdays practices went well too but after Wednesday I lost control. I forgot and didn't have the strength to do my squats, on Thursday I had such a busy day I couldn't go jogging (of course the time can always be found - I was just too fed up). Well on Friday I tried to compensate and went to indoor cycling and it did good. Yet again on Saturday I skipped jogging and slept long. On Sunday I went jogging in a little rain before the practice and oh how I enjoyed it. Then at PRD on skate practices I noticed my right buttock is really sore and also the top of the both buttocks are hurting a bit. I think it's just strain from increasing squats in my workout routine. On the other hand I noticed it is again easier to hold my thighs lower. So some part of my body is not keeping up with progress. I tried to do RVP and managed to do squats with both legs, but not the ones with left foot behind. It really hurt. So I did abs too but skipped buttocks and instead did a good stretching for an half an hour. Today it still hurts and the whole upper part of my buttocks is really sore. I need a massage, but hmm I'm a bit insecure about having a buttocks massage! Well I still think I really need it and plenty of stretching as well.

Here is what's coming up on week 5!

Monday

BODYPUMP 60

stretching 30

Tuesday

PRD off skate practice 60

PRD on skate practice 60

Wednesday

massage 30

PRD on skate practice 2 hours

Thursday

squats 2 x 65

stretching 30 (home)

Friday

RVP 30

stretching 30 (home)

Saturday

Strategy boot camp by HRD in Pasila:

off skate theory 2 hours

on skate practice 2 hours

Sunday

PRD off skate practice 2 hours

stretching 30 (home)

Oh how I like the sights of this week. Not just the workouts but the empty evenings I have. I'm gonna take it easy this week - well at least as well as I can. You might have noticed something extra fun on Saturday... YES a boot camp! I love boot camps, they have a whole different atmosphere and lets not forget the HUGE space they have in Pasila. We, the little PRD, who have born in Saksalas miniature sports hall are uttermost excited about the space to skate in Pasila, oh I want to feel the floor under my skates again.

This is it for today. I will get into nutrition tomorrow - boring stuff but essential. I don't know if I'm glad or sad that I've got a bad tempered stomach. It gets irritated easily if I don't eat well and that was one of the reasons I had a bad week. I ate too much sugar and too little veggies. It's more than OK to have your weekly sweets (or in my case my daily sweets) but it must be limited to healthy portions. I also have high blood pressure and cholesterol in family, so I should watch out already, I don't want to get on meds this young. If I play nicely this week, I will reward myself with baking cookies in the weekend.

Dough is the best